PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE 



ON 



THE STUDY 

 OF 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



PART I. 



OF THE GENERAL NATURE AND ADVANTAGES OT 

 THE STUDY OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES 



CHAPTER I. 



OF MAN REGARDED AS A CREATURE OF INSTINCT, OF 

 REASON, AND SPECULATION. GENERAL INFLUENCE OF 

 SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS ON THE MIND. 



(1.) THE situation of man on the globe he inhabits, 

 and over which he has obtained the control, is in 

 many respects exceedingly remarkable. Compared 

 with its other denizens, he seems, if we regard only 

 his physical constitution, in almost every respect 

 their inferior, and equally unprovided for the supply 

 of his natural wants and his defence against the in- 

 numerable enemies which surround him. No other 

 animal passes so large a portion of its existence in a 



